# eSIM for French Guiana

Viasimo's French Guiana eSIM starts at $1.29 for 500 MB over 1 day, running on Orange with 5G where available. Plans last 1 to 180 days, arrive by email in minutes and install from your phone's settings, with no app.

Canonical page: https://viasimo.com/destinations/french-guiana/

## French Guiana eSIM prices

| Plan | Data | Days | Price | Price per GB |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 500 MB, 1 day | 500 MB | 1 | $1.29 | $2.64 |
| 1 GB, 1 day | 1 GB | 1 | $1.59 | $1.59 |
| 2 GB, 1 day | 2 GB | 1 | $2.29 | $1.15 |
| 5 GB, 1 day | 5 GB | 1 | $4.00 | $0.80 |
| Unlimited, 3 days | Unlimited | 3 | $6.99 | - |
| Unlimited, 5 days | Unlimited | 5 | $10.99 | - |
| 1 GB, 7 days | 1 GB | 7 | $1.59 | $1.59 |
| Unlimited, 7 days | Unlimited | 7 | $13.99 | - |
| Unlimited, 10 days | Unlimited | 10 | $18.99 | - |
| 3 GB, 15 days | 3 GB | 15 | $3.00 | $1.00 |
| Unlimited, 15 days | Unlimited | 15 | $27.99 | - |
| 3 GB, 30 days | 3 GB | 30 | $3.29 | $1.10 |
| 5 GB, 30 days | 5 GB | 30 | $4.59 | $0.92 |
| 10 GB, 30 days | 10 GB | 30 | $8.00 | $0.80 |
| 20 GB, 30 days | 20 GB | 30 | $17.00 | $0.85 |
| Unlimited, 30 days | Unlimited | 30 | $50.99 | - |
| Unlimited, 60 days | Unlimited | 60 | $98.00 | - |
| Unlimited, 90 days | Unlimited | 90 | $149.99 | - |
| Unlimited, 180 days | Unlimited | 180 | $299.99 | - |

## Which networks does the French Guiana eSIM use?

- **Orange**: 5G

Your eSIM picks one automatically; you do not choose or switch between them.

The operator list comes from the network partner that carries this eSIM. Verified October 30, 2026.

## eSIM Details

- **Data**: 500 MB – 20 GB or unlimited
- **Validity**: 1–180 days
- **Speed**: 4G LTE / 5G
- **Hotspot / tethering**: Supported on most devices
- **Activation**: Starts when you first connect in your destination
- **Speed management**: Roughly 2-3 GB per day at full speed, sometimes less depending on the local carrier, then reduced
- **Top-ups**: Add more data from your account, before the plan expires
- **Text messages (SMS)**: Data only: use an app for verification codes
- **Unused validity**: 180 days before it must be installed

## French Guiana: what to know before you land

Source: https://viasimo.com/destinations/french-guiana/#destination-guide · Researched October 2026 by Viasimo

In French Guiana your eSIM connects to Orange, and 5G is supported where it is available. Two things here catch visitors out more often than signal does. You can't enter without a yellow fever vaccination certificate. And at the Brazilian and Surinamese border rivers, your phone can pick up a neighbouring country's network.

### French Guiana: quick facts

| Fact | French Guiana |
| --- | --- |
| Emergency number | 112 (or 15 ambulance, 17 police, 18 fire) |
| Main airports | Cayenne – Félix Eboué Airport (CAY) |
| Plug types | Type C, E (220V) |
| Currency | Euro (EUR) |
| Apps worth having | WhatsApp, Google Maps, Facebook Messenger |

### Arriving at Cayenne Félix Eboué (CAY) with your yellow fever certificate

(French Guiana · https://viasimo.com/destinations/french-guiana/#guide-arriving-at-cayenne-felix-eboue-cay-with-your-yellow-fever-certificate)

French Guiana's international airport, Cayenne–Félix Eboué (CAY), is near Matoury, about 13 km south-west of central Cayenne. Long-haul flights from France arrive from two different Paris airports: Air Caraïbes flies from Paris-Orly, and Air France from Charles de Gaulle. Air France also connects Cayenne with Fort-de-France, Pointe-à-Pitre and Belém, and Surinam Airways flies to Paramaribo. Double-check which Paris airport your booking uses before you plan a connection.

The UK Foreign Office says you must have a certificate proving yellow fever vaccination to enter, and you may need it again for onward travel. Carry the original paper certificate. A clear photo on your phone is a useful backup, but don't rely on it as your only copy. Your passport also needs to be valid for at least three months after your planned departure date.

French Guiana is part of the EU, the largest of its outermost regions, and uses the euro. Visitors from many countries can stay up to 90 days without a visa. Switch on your eSIM as you land so you can message your transfer, since the airport is a drive from town.

### Border rivers at Saint-Georges and Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni

(French Guiana · https://viasimo.com/destinations/french-guiana/#guide-border-rivers-at-saint-georges-and-saint-laurent-du-maroni)

French Guiana has two land frontiers, and both are rivers. In the east, the **Oyapock River Bridge** links Saint-Georges-de-l'Oyapock with Brazil. It was completed in 2011 but opened only in March 2017, and it was the territory's first land link to anywhere else. In the west, no bridge crosses the **Maroni**. A ferry runs from Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni to Albina in Suriname.

Both towns are close enough to their neighbours that your phone may find a Brazilian or Surinamese network, especially along the riverbank or if you take a pirogue on the water. Your plan covers French Guiana and uses Orange. If your data suddenly stops in Saint-Georges or Saint-Laurent, open your network settings and check which operator the phone has attached to. Selecting Orange manually usually brings it back.

If you do cross into Brazil or Suriname, you are leaving the area this plan covers. You will need separate connectivity on the other side, so download maps and save your accommodation details before you cross.

### Cayenne after dark and the gold-mining interior

(French Guiana · https://viasimo.com/destinations/french-guiana/#guide-cayenne-after-dark-and-the-gold-mining-interior)

Crime levels are generally low, but the Foreign Office notes a risk of robbery in parts of Cayenne, especially after dark. It advises avoiding isolated places at night, including secluded beaches, and taking a licensed or pre-arranged taxi after using a cash machine. In practice, book your ride before you leave the restaurant or ATM, and share your live location with a travel companion over WhatsApp on late journeys.

The interior is a different world. Most of the roughly 300,000 residents live on the coast, about half of them in Cayenne. The remote rainforest has a long-running problem with illegal gold mining by garimpeiros. Inland trips should be with an established guide or tour operator who knows which areas to avoid. Agree a return time with someone on the coast before you lose signal.

The rainy season runs from December to July and can bring tropical storms. That affects river trips and road travel, so check the forecast on the morning you set out. For emergencies, call 112, or 15 for an ambulance, 17 for the police and 18 for the fire service, using your home SIM, because the eSIM is data-only.

### Sources for the French Guiana guide

- [French Guiana travel advice: entry requirements (GOV.UK)](https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/french-guiana/entry-requirements)
- [French Guiana travel advice: safety and security (GOV.UK)](https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/french-guiana/safety-and-security)
- [French Guiana travel advice: getting help (GOV.UK)](https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/french-guiana/getting-help)
- [French Guiana (Wikipedia)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Guiana)
- [Cayenne – Félix Eboué Airport (Wikipedia)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cayenne_%E2%80%93_F%C3%A9lix_Ebou%C3%A9_Airport)

## Seven days in French Guiana: Cayenne, Kourou, the Îles du Salut and Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni

7-day itinerary · 7 days · Source: https://viasimo.com/destinations/french-guiana/#itinerary

A coastal week along French Guiana's one main road, from Cayenne and the Kaw marshes to the space centre at Kourou, the former penal islands offshore and the old convict town of Saint-Laurent on the Maroni. Best with a hire car; the rainforest interior is for guided trips only.

**When to go:** The drier season from August to November is the easiest time for road trips and boat crossings, with a short dry spell in March; leatherback and green turtles nest on the beaches at Awala-Yalimapo from about April to July, while December to July is the rainy season.

### Day 1 in French Guiana: Cayenne: Place des Palmistes and Fort Cépérou

- **Base:** Cayenne
- **Getting there:** Félix Eboué airport (CAY) is about 13 km from central Cayenne, roughly 20–30 minutes by road.
- **Plan:** Start at the Place des Palmistes, the palm-filled square at the centre of Cayenne, then walk up to the ruins of Fort Cépérou for a view over the town and the estuary. Visit the Musée Alexandre-Franconie, which covers the colony's history and natural history, and the central market for tropical fruit and soups. In the late afternoon, drive out to the beaches of Rémire-Montjoly and walk part of the Montabo or Rorota trails above the sea.
- **Mobile signal:** Orange 4G is strong across Cayenne and Rémire-Montjoly, with 5G in parts of the city; take a licensed taxi after dark rather than walking with your phone out.

### Day 2 in French Guiana: Cacao and the Kaw marshes

- **Base:** Cayenne
- **Getting there:** Cacao is about 1 hour from Cayenne by road; the Kaw marshes are around 1½ hours, via Roura.
- **Plan:** Drive inland to Cacao, a village founded by Hmong refugees from Laos in the 1970s; on Sundays its market sells soups, embroidery and vegetables. Continue towards the Kaw–Roura marshes, one of the largest wetland reserves in France, and join a guided pirogue trip to look for black caimans, hoatzins and other birdlife. Night caiman-spotting trips are popular, so book ahead with an established operator.
- **Mobile signal:** Signal is weak along the forest road to Kaw and largely absent on the marshes; agree a return time with someone in Cayenne and carry offline maps.

### Day 3 in French Guiana: Kourou and the Guiana Space Centre

- **Base:** Kourou
- **Getting there:** About 1 hour by road from Cayenne along the N1.
- **Plan:** Drive west to Kourou and take a guided tour of the Guiana Space Centre (CSG), Europe's spaceport, booked in advance with your passport details. Visit the Musée de l'Espace on site, which explains the Ariane and Vega launchers. If a launch is scheduled during your stay, apply online for a viewing invitation, or watch from one of the beaches nearby. In the evening, walk Kourou's waterfront at the Pointe des Roches.
- **Mobile signal:** The N1 between Cayenne and Kourou is well covered, and Kourou town has good Orange 4G; security rules restrict photography at parts of the space centre.

### Day 4 in French Guiana: Îles du Salut: Île Royale and Saint-Joseph

- **Base:** Kourou
- **Getting there:** Catamarans from Kourou take about 1 hour to 1 hour 30 minutes each way; book ahead for weekends and holidays.
- **Plan:** Take the morning catamaran to the Îles du Salut, the islands that held the most feared part of the French penal colony. On Île Royale, walk the paths past the prison blocks, the chapel and the guards' houses, where monkeys and agoutis roam. Take the short boat transfer to Île Saint-Joseph to see the overgrown solitary-confinement cells. Île du Diable, where Alfred Dreyfus was held, is closed to visitors but visible from the shore.
- **Mobile signal:** Signal fades during the crossing and is limited on the islands, about 14 km offshore; you may get a weak connection on parts of Île Royale.

### Day 5 in French Guiana: Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni and the Camp de la Transportation

- **Base:** Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni
- **Getting there:** About 2½–3 hours by road from Kourou along the N1 (roughly 190 km).
- **Plan:** Drive west along the coast to Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni, where convicts arrived from France for almost a century. Take the guided tour of the Camp de la Transportation, the transit camp where prisoners were processed, and see the cell said to bear the carved name of Henri Charrière, the author of Papillon. In the late afternoon, walk along the Maroni riverbank, with Suriname on the far bank.
- **Mobile signal:** There are long gaps in coverage on the N1 west of Kourou, around Sinnamary and Iracoubo; near the Maroni, your phone may pick up a Surinamese network, so check you are on Orange.

### Day 6 in French Guiana: Mana and the beaches of Awala-Yalimapo

- **Base:** Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni
- **Getting there:** Saint-Laurent to Mana takes about 45 minutes by road; Mana to Awala-Yalimapo a further 30 minutes.
- **Plan:** Drive north to Mana, a small riverside town with a 19th-century church, then continue to Awala-Yalimapo, a Kali'na village at the mouth of the Maroni. Visit the Maison de la Réserve for the Amana nature reserve, which protects one of the world's most important nesting beaches for leatherback turtles. If you are here between April and July, join an evening turtle-watching session with the reserve's staff, without using a torch or flash.
- **Mobile signal:** Mana and Awala-Yalimapo have limited 4G; download maps and the reserve's information beforehand, and keep the screen dark on the beach at night.

### Day 7 in French Guiana: Back along the coast to Cayenne

- **Base:** Cayenne
- **Getting there:** About 3–3½ hours by road from Saint-Laurent to Cayenne (roughly 250 km), longer with stops.
- **Plan:** Drive back east along the coast road. Stop at Sinnamary to look at its wood-carving workshops and at Iracoubo to see the church whose interior was painted by a convict in the late 19th century. If time allows, take a short walk at the Savane des Pères near Kourou before continuing to Cayenne for a final evening or your flight.
- **Mobile signal:** Expect gaps between Saint-Laurent and Kourou, then reliable 4G from Kourou to Cayenne and the airport.

### Staying connected on this French Guiana route

- Carry your original yellow fever certificate; a photo on your phone is only a backup.
- Download offline maps for the whole N1 coast road before leaving Cayenne, as the stretch between Kourou and Saint-Laurent has long gaps.
- Near the Maroni and Oyapock rivers, set your network selection to Orange manually so your phone does not join a Surinamese or Brazilian network.
- Book the Îles du Salut catamaran and the space centre tour before you go; both need confirmations you can show offline.

### Sources for the French Guiana itinerary

- [Wikivoyage: Kourou](https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Kourou)
- [GOV.UK foreign travel advice: French Guiana safety and security](https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/french-guiana/safety-and-security)
- [GOV.UK foreign travel advice: French Guiana entry requirements](https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/french-guiana/entry-requirements)
- [Wikipedia: French Guiana](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Guiana)

## About this eSIM

French Guiana is a piece of the European Union bolted onto the edge of the Amazon, and your phone experience splits along exactly that line. The coastal strip where nearly everyone lives behaves like a well served French département. The interior, which is most of the territory by area, is rainforest and rivers where mobile networks simply do not reach.

### Getting online when you land

Do the setup part at home. Downloading and installing the profile needs a working connection, and Cayenne's Félix Eboué airport is not where you want to discover that. Land, enable the travel line in your settings, wait for it to attach, and you can order a ride or message your guesthouse before you have collected your bag.

The airport sits some distance out from Cayenne itself, so having data the moment you clear arrivals genuinely changes the first hour of your trip. Transfers here are usually arranged rather than hailed, which means messaging apps and email matter more than taxi apps do.

Anyone heading straight for Kourou and the space centre should get the connection confirmed before leaving the airport building, because the coastal road is fine but you will want your bookings and gate instructions accessible rather than hopeful.

### The networks you'll be on

Coverage here comes from Orange Caribe, the operator listed for French Guiana, carrying 3G, 4G/LTE and 5G. That is the network your eSIM will register on, so unlike a big mainland market there is no useful comparison shopping between operators once you are in the country; you get what is built where you are standing.

Practically, that means the quality question is geographic rather than technical. Where the network has capacity, in the towns along the coast, you get a modern data connection with 4G/LTE as the workhorse and 5G in the better served pockets. Where the network has no reason to exist, you get nothing at all, and there is no second operator to fall back on.

### Where coverage holds, and where it thins

Think of a thin band along the Atlantic. Cayenne, Rémire-Montjoly, Matoury, Kourou and Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni sit on it, along with the RN1 and RN2 roads that string them together, and reception across that band is dependable enough to plan around.

Leave the band and the drop is abrupt rather than gradual. Head up the Maroni or the Oyapock by pirogue and you lose signal within a fairly short run upriver; villages deep inland are served by radio, satellite and scheduled flights rather than by anything your handset can use. The road south towards Régina and Saint-Georges has stretches where you should expect to be offline between settlements.

Nature reserves and the trails behind the coast are the other blank areas. Anywhere you are going specifically to see untouched forest is, by definition, somewhere nobody built a mast. Heavy rain and dense canopy also knock down whatever marginal signal you had, so a bar of reception at the trailhead is not a promise of one an hour later.

Boat trips to the Îles du Salut are close enough to shore that people often keep partial reception, but treat that as luck rather than a plan.

### What you'll actually use data for here

Logistics, mostly. Getting between Cayenne, Kourou and Saint-Laurent means fixed departure times, shared vehicles and arrangements made by phone, and all of that lives in WhatsApp threads and email confirmations. Launch viewing at the space centre involves registration, timing changes and access instructions that you will want to be able to reload.

Maps and navigation matter more than usual because the road network is sparse and mistakes are expensive in time. Download the coastal strip and any inland route before you set off. Weather and river conditions are worth checking daily in the wet season, as they change what tour operators will actually run.

French is the working language everywhere, so a translation app earns its keep if yours is rusty, and it is worth downloading the offline language pack rather than relying on live lookups. Beyond that, expect the usual: uploading photos when you are back on a good connection, calling home across a significant time difference, and keeping your flight status in front of you, since long haul connections through the Caribbean or Paris leave little slack.

### Before you fly

Install the eSIM on wi-fi at home and confirm it is showing in your line list before you travel. Keep your normal SIM installed for texts and voice, with its roaming data turned off so nothing runs up charges behind the scenes.

Pull down offline maps covering Cayenne, the coastal road and any river or forest destination on your itinerary, and screenshot the things you cannot afford to lose: accommodation address, guide contact numbers, tour meeting points, return flight reference. Anything upriver should be treated as an offline leg from the start, planned as if you will have no connection until you come back downstream, because most of the time that is exactly what happens.

Bring a power bank and a way to keep it dry. Humidity and heat here are hard on batteries and on charging ports, and a phone that will not charge is a bigger problem than a phone with no bars.

## Frequently asked questions

### Does an eSIM work in French Guiana?

Yes. Your French Guiana eSIM connects automatically the moment you arrive, with no roaming fees and nothing to set up at the airport. The host networks it can use are Orange. Coverage runs on 4G LTE and 5G where the network has rolled it out, and falls back to 4G elsewhere.

### Do I get 5G in French Guiana?

Yes, where it has been deployed. 5G runs on Orange in French Guiana, and your eSIM uses it automatically on a 5G-capable phone, dropping back to 4G LTE outside covered areas. No country is covered everywhere, so 5G availability varies by location.

### Do I need a yellow fever certificate for French Guiana?

Yes. The UK Foreign Office says every visitor needs a certificate proving yellow fever vaccination to enter French Guiana, and it may also be needed for onward travel. Carry the original paper certificate and keep a photo on your phone as a backup. Your passport must also be valid for at least three months beyond your planned departure.

### Will my phone connect to a Brazilian network in Saint-Georges?

It can. Saint-Georges-de-l'Oyapock faces Brazil across the Oyapock, and the two have been linked by a bridge since 2017. Near the river, phones sometimes pick up a Brazilian signal. Your eSIM is for French Guiana and uses Orange, so if data stops, check the network name in your settings and select Orange manually.

### Is there mobile signal on the ferry from Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni to Suriname?

On the Maroni crossing to Albina you are moving towards Suriname, and your phone may switch to a Surinamese network that your French Guiana plan does not cover. Download maps and save your onward details before you board. Once you are in Albina you have left French Guiana and will need connectivity that covers Suriname.

### Which Paris airport do flights to Cayenne leave from?

Both, depending on the airline. Air Caraïbes flies between Paris-Orly and Cayenne–Félix Eboué (CAY), while Air France uses Paris-Charles de Gaulle. Air France also links Cayenne with Fort-de-France and Pointe-à-Pitre, and Surinam Airways flies to Paramaribo. Check your ticket before planning a train or connecting flight in Paris.

### How much data do I need for 7 days in French Guiana?

For 7 days in French Guiana, Viasimo sells 1 GB for $1.59 and unlimited data for $13.99. Our sizing recommendation, not a measurement: maps, messaging and the occasional lookup, about 1 GB a week; maps, social, photos and some browsing, about 3 to 7 GB a week. The data calculator on this site works it out from how you actually use your phone.

## Information and verification

- **Prices and plans**: Every price and allowance on this page is read from the live catalog, not typed in. Verified October 30, 2026.
- **Host networks**: The operator list comes from the network partner that carries this eSIM. Verified October 30, 2026.